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An enthusiastic crowd of mixed martial arts (MMA) advocates packed an Isa Town arena as blood, bruises and battered reputations were made in the cage at Friday’s ‘Brave – The Beginning’ event.
They cheered and whooped loudly as fighters walloped their opponents, grappled on the floor for a submission grip and raised the roof when locally-trained favourites and international stars stepped forward under the spotlight.
MMA has the razzmatazz of its big TV brother WWE without the pantomime and staged hysterics although the gravelly-voiced presenter used his best microphone techniques to introduce the warriors and interview the winners afterwards with plenty of aplomb.
But the star of the show turned out to be a late addition to the bill who warranted his star status on the back page of last week’s issue of GulfWeekly with a stunning knock-out performance against all the odds.
Reduced to the status of co-main event, Gadzhimusa ‘Deadshot’ Gaziev took a last minute call to fight 25-year-old undefeated Brazilian Thiago Vieira at Khalifa Sports City after local favourite Mohammad Fakhreddine had to pull out after damaging his knee in training.
In stepped lightweight gladiator Gaziev. The 24-year-old from Daguestan, who despite winning his last two bouts already had one loss on his record, and had competed only seven times in his home country.
In turn, Vieira was still undefeated in professional MMA, with eight wins, all of them by the way of knockout or submission. After winning a national event, the man nicknamed ‘Monstro’ was looking to make his international mark at Brave and display his extensive use of Muay Thai skills, where he throws chopping kicks to the legs and body to set up his punches.
On paper it didn’t look good for the Russian but in the cage it was a totally different scenario. Gaziev was simply awesome.
Gaziev rushed in with a takedown which he was able to get but Vieira managed to wall-walk his way back up and throw an impressive three-strike combo in reply.
And just as fans thought it might go according to plan the unpredictability of MMA reared its head and Gaziev threw a cracker of a right hand that dropped a stunned Vieira against the cage. All it took were a few strikes more for the referee to call the fight over and award victory to the Daghestani.
The upgraded main event featuring Abdul Kareem Al Selwady and Rami Aziz was said to be a grudge affair but ended with a whimper and the score settled in the first round by way of ‘rear naked choke’ manoeuvre. Al-Selwady’s grappling prowess left Aziz with little room to navigate on the ground.
Earlier, the curtain raiser fight of the first ever ‘Brave Combat Federation’ was won by local rising star Mohammad Atif ‘The Little Hawk’ who completely dominated Indian opponent Sunny Khatri, who spent most of his time on the back foot.
Stephen Loman, who trains out of the famed Lakay Team, received rich applause from the many Filipino expats in the crowd, unanimously took the spoils against Frans Mlambo, winner of last year’s International MMA Federation’s amateur championship in Las Vegas.
Mohammad Farhad scored an impressive TKO win over his Moroccan opponent Badr-Eddine in the second round via a technical knockout.
In between bouts, a busy mop-handler and bucket man manoeuvred around the ring cleaning up the spilt blood mainly caused by cuts to the eyes brows and knocks on noses.
Mad-hatter Ivan Lopez won his encounter thanks to a rear naked choke in the first two minutes of round one against Jessie Rafols. Superior in all aspects, Lopez has now recorded six of his 14 victories via submission
There were also huge cheers, as ‘The pride of Bahrain’ Hamzah Kooheji made his long-awaited and victorious comeback into the Octagon against Egyptian Mohammad Mashaly winning with a north/south choke three minutes into the second round.
And KHK representative Eldar Eldarov beat Kevin Koldobsky by way of unanimous decision after three rounds and now registers a seven fight winning streak. Their fight took place as the first fight of the Main Card of Brave: The Beginning.
Ahmed Amir pulled off another upset when he beat Richie ‘The Boogeyman’ Martinez by TKO in the first round.
In a wild brawl between two featherweights Masio Fullen emerged victorious in the dying seconds of the first round after looking in trouble against Abdul Muneer.
A right royal welcome from the crowd and the fighters also went to two VIP sports supporters watching the action - Representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, President of Bahrain Olympic Committee, Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and the Deputy President of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, President of Bahrain Athletics Association, and founder of Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa Mixed Martial Arts Organisation (KHK MMA), Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
Overall, a thrilling fight card and all MMA enthusiasts in the kingdom eagerly await round two in December.
Although the show goes on! After a very successful first fight night in Bahrain, Brave Combat Federation is already moving forward, towards an extensive 2017 schedule. With events planned for Europe, the promotion opened talks to negotiate at least three shows for the next year in the continent.
“As a result of a productive meeting with events coordinator Tomasz Pindralwe, we are planning to start our Brave journey next year with a first European event in the Netherlands, with a following show in Ireland, and finally landing in Poland,” said Cesar Silva, Official Brave Representative in Europe.
Earlier this month, even before its first event, Brave held a press conference in Ireland to kick-off the promotion of its European expansion plans. President Mohammed Shahid reinforced the key role that Europe plays in the organisation’s plans, and also announced a partnership with the European-based company IS 360 to organise Brave events at the ‘Old Continent’.
